The Laundromat
by Ange Noir
Summary: Inui having broken his washing machine is now forced to work at the local laundromat. Much to his surprise however he meets a familiar face there. Kainu/Inukai
1. Step 1: Sort Clothes

**Disclaimer**: insert blank stare here Yay I win the staring contest. Yadda yadda yadda, let's move on now shall we?

Ange: This is my first PoT fanfic and my first attempt at shounen- ai. That being said judge accordingly. Hopefully this won't turn out to be a cookie cuter inukai story either. Hopefully I will actually finish this story too. Haha, I know funny right?

EDIT: yay this is edited too.

* * *

The Laundromat

Step 1: Sort Clothes

Inui Sadaharu is a perfectionist. A perfectionist on the tennis courts, a perfectionist in school, and he is even a perfectionist within the confines of his own home. But try as he might, all of his perfectionistism (if such a word could even exist) couldn't save him from the horrors of laundry duty. Once you think about it how hard can cleaning clothes possible be? It is just simple elementary mathematics, measuring and the like. So when time and time again Inui's clothes turn out worse off than when first started, it hits him below the belt. Last week his whites all turned pink. The week before his clothes had mysteriously shrunken and before that he had so much starch in them that it was physically impossible to move.

-

This time around Inui wondered what misfortune has befallen him as he stood knee deep in suds watching in marvel as more still gush forth from the robotic monster that is the washing machine. Inui knows with a definite probability of 10 to 1 that his clothes are ruined and the machine broken. It was at times like these he hated being right.

-

With the sound of a door closing Inui turned to face his parents who just returned from a long day of grocery shopping. He stood there watching with calculating eyes as his mother let the groceries slip from her hands, cracking the eggs and spilling the milk. His father stood next to her astonished, unable to understand how his smart and cunning son could possibly make such a blunder. Inui calculated on a probability of 5 to 1 that he would be in deeper trouble than a tectonic plate. And as his mother overcame her stunned disbelief and started unleashing her frustrated anger on him, he proved himself correct.

-

At times Inui hated being right.

-

"Inui!" His mother shouted at him her voice still heightened from the shock. She only referred to him by his last name when things got really bad.

-

"Look at this mess! What were you thinking? The machine is probably ruined by now, not to mention our clothes."

-

She kept jumping from subject to subject unable to speak calmly in her incredulity.

-

"Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost us?"

-

Inui did and he told her just that. Mentally calculating all the damages to the finest detail, he gave an amount down the last yen. Hearing this, his mother felt he went too far as even more stress built upon her. Walking up to her son who already towered above her, she steadily raised her hand and let her palm harshly connect with the side of Inui's face. As a red bruise gradually blossomed on his cheek she still felt that this wasn't punishment enough. "It's too late to use your smarts now when it would have been better suited before this mess happened."

-

Turning to her husband she called him out on the spot, "Do you have nothing to say to your son? Look at this mess he caused. And this was a new washing machine too to top it off."

-

Her husband of almost two decades looked up from cleaning the groceries she dropped. He silently glanced from his wife's outraged face to his son's injured but stoic stare. "Not really," he replied, "you've done enough for the both of us." With that said he picked up their bags and headed to the kitchen, silently washing his hands of the whole mess.

-

She turned back to face her son, complete dissatisfied with her husband's response yet shamed at the same time. "Well anyways," she lectured on, while guiltily avoiding eye contact with Sadaharu, "I want you to clean up this mess and then go to your room and study. I just don't want to deal with this right now." She turned to leave him but before exiting the room completely she stopped to say one last thing to him, a hint of concern coloring her words.

-

"Make sure you put something on that bruise. Okay?"

-

"Understood," He replied in his trademark monotone voice. He knew that this is the closest he would ever get as an apology from her.

-

"Um, well just as well that you understand that's all." Without a backward glance she left to join her husband.

-

Surveying the area once again by now covered completely in detergent suds, Inui inwardly sighed. For once his data failed to save him.

-

He had yet to know how he felt about that.

* * *

A/N

This is the first chapter so it can only go downhill from here. Comments of any and all kinds are welcomed. Check out my other incomplete stories too even though they're not yaoi or PoT. /end shameless plug

That is all.


	2. Step 2: Load Clothes into Washer

**Disclaimer:** .. Need I say more?

Ange: Yay second chapter! Thank you for sticking it out and the reviews and alerts are absolute love. Though if you're going to alert me don't be afraid to drop me a review as well. Hinthint… Erm so this is the second chapter (of course) and hopefully it's up to your liking. Dialogue is killer for me so I'm sorry if it sounds stiff…

EDIT: Now er...edit? It's weird cause I say or type Sadaharu but it comes out as Sadahara. I should request Inui to get a name change or something.

* * *

The Laundromat

Step 2: Load Clothes into Washer

* * *

Inui was going over his notes from class when he heard a faint knock on the door. 

-

"Sadaharu, may I come in?" His father asked through the barrier.

-

"Of course," Inui replied setting away his books as his father entered the room. Mr. Inui sat down on the edge of his son's western style bed, facing him.

-

"Your mom is sorry," he began awkwardly not knowing where to start.

-

"I know Dad," Inui plainly assured him.

-

"She didn't mean to hit you son," his father plowed on, "her anger just gets a hold of her sometimes."

-

"I know Dad," Inui repeated, use to this type of conversation already. Inui knew the steps to this dance by heart now. His mother would get mad at some known or unknown wrong of his, he would consequently have to sit through her lectures and anger bursts, and then his father would be left to deal with the aftermath and hand out the punishment to the deserving party.

-

"_He's too stoic," his mother would complain. "I never know what he's thinking."_

_- _

But really, Inui is the mirror image of his father from his mechanical thinking to his poor eyesight. You would think then that his mother would be use to his character but his data proved otherwise. And data never lies well, at least this not time around Inui corrected, remembering the washing machine incident.

-

"Make sure you come down for dinner, ok?" his father went on, "your mom is making your favorite and I'm even throwing together my Special Inui Juice #9 Combo."

-

Now Inui and his father knew that the whole family detested all the Inui juices ever made, themselves included. But being the masochistic family that they are, they could never refuse the revolting brew.

-

Besides it all made for some good data.

-

"Well anyways," his father went on, "your mom and I settled on a fair punishment for you."

-

Inui waited with bated breath for the moment he'd been anticipating with dread since his father walked in the room.

-

"Since the washing machine is broken beyond repair, we decided that you will give up the money to buy a new one."

-

His father paused to gauge his reaction but of course there was none.

-

"Part of the money will come from the money you saved up to see the Professional Tennis Nationals…" Still nothing.

-

"The rest will be from the summer job your mom managed to get you at the local Laundromat that just opened up. You will also be doing our laundry over there as well. This will be a good learning experience for you so try to see it that way."

-

"Yes I understand and this sounds like a just punishment as well," Inui assessed.

-

Mr. Inui's shoulders slumped in relief. His son was like him to the extreme so he never knew how to deal with him either. At times like these he felt like the child waiting for his father's approval. If only he knew how to break out of that habit.

-

"Dinner will be ready in a bit," Mr. Inui finished as he made his way to the door, "so make sure you finish up your homework by then."

-

"Okay," his son agreed even though it was summer break so there was no rush. He was practically done with his summer workload in any case so it was no big deal.

-

"Oh and Sadaharu," his father remarked offhandedly, "when you wash our clothes see if you can get a discount there too since it's a family business of one of your teammates."

-

"Which one?" Inui asked deeply interested. None of his notes pointed that anyone from his tennis team had a family run Laundromat. How could he miss such a detail?

-

"Guess you'll have to find out when you start working there tomorrow."

-

And with that said his father left Inui to muse over that, more concerned with this new development than the unfinished homework that lay on his desk.

* * *

A/N: So how was it? Don't be shy all comments are welcome. I have a habit of referring to Sadahara as his last name Inui so that's going to be hard to break. Oh I'm going to start tennis soon so I'm psyched about that. I also have 3 to 4 others short ficlets that's been running in my head (1 Furuba and the rest PoT) so I'm not sure when the next chapter for this will be out. I'll reply to the reviews when the new chapter is up. I know I had a dumb moment about that for the longest. Thankyou for reading and happy [insert whatever day you're reading this on. 


	3. Step 3: Pour Detergent into the Washer

Disclaimer: I put the lame in disclamer. Since people don't know about spell-check on the internet that makes perfect sense.

Ange: Surprised? Don't worry I am too. I decided to take a break writing random one-shots that I never seem to finish to update this. I had this story all written out actually all the way to the end only to realize it became horribly cliché and that's what I hate about Kainu fics. Sadness ensued, so I trashed that and I'm starting anew. This chapter could be better but if I look at it too long I will delete it and procrastinate on updating once more. Thanks for all the reviews and hopefully some stragglers will still be reading this. If not then yay for wasted space.

* * *

The Laundromat

Step 3: Pour Detergent into the Washer

* * *

Kaoru Kaidoh is not a nice person.

-

Even just glancing at the permanent scowl on his face you can immediately tell that. Now if that's true or not that question has yet to be answered. It should be noted however that those who have tried are still traumatized by the experience.

-

And a handful of the victims are still undergoing psychological treatment.

-

Recently though, many people who claim to know Kaidoh have realized that they need to rethink their assessment of him. Of course they would never say this to his face.

-

They don't have a death wish after all.

-

Last week Kaidoh broke up a fight between a gang of elementary kids during his morning run. He wasn't being nice of course; they were just in his way. The fact that the fight wasn't even blocking his path but was happening on the opposite side of the street is completely irrelevant in his eyes. Yesterday during morning tennis practice he rescued a stray kitten from a tree. It's mewling was annoying him so he couldn't concentrate was his excuse that time around. Only Momo questioned him causing Kaidoh to answer back with a resounding verbal fight of his own. But everybody ignored the fact that Kaidoh was seen feeding the stray cat on the rooftop during lunch.

-

Even Momo knew when to back off.

-

Today though is the start of summer vacation so Kaidoh had no worries about being labeled as a nice person for a few weeks at least. He could fully concentrate on his tennis now. The only downer is that Momo somehow ended up being captain. Kaidoh let out his trademark hiss to relieve the stress that was building up. He couldn't care less if even Horio with his two years tennis experience became captain, just as long as whoever is coach doesn't get in his way. He'll be damned if he'll start calling that idiot Captain Momo though. He'll rather drink a gallon of Inui Juice than suffer through that embarrassment. Kaidoh's stomach turned at that thought. Well maybe that was too severe.

-

The house was quiet today as Kaidoh sat in the kitchen eating a western breakfast he made for himself after coming back in from his morning jog. His family left for Hong Kong to visit his cousin who was getting married. Kaidoh opted not to go with them because he wanted to improve on his tennis. He didn't regret his decision but he still felt uncomfortable in the silence of his usually lively house. Kaidoh quickly finished his meal and went to change out of his sweat stained running clothes. Thirty minutes later he found himself in front of his uncle's Laundromat ready to start his work shift. He uncle broke his back a few days ago so he's bedridden and unable to take care of the store. His mother volunteered him to work in his uncle's place for free so Kaidoh had no choice but to accept. All he could hope for is that nobody would find out about this and he wouldn't have to use much of his nonexistent social skills.

-

His uncle thought that handling the store alone would be too much for him so he somehow managed to get another person to work for him. He was around his age so they should get along fine. Everyone in his family seems to think that Kaidoh is a wonderful people person for some reason. Kaidoh spent the morning scaring children and angering customers. By lunchtime he was ready to call it quits and it was only his first day. Just what is taking his so called employee so long anyways? Kaidoh heard the bell ring signaling another customer. He was too busy enjoying his bento while watching a tennis match on the TV to pay it any mind though. A shadow towered over him but he disregarded that as well, too intent on the match.

-

"Sorry," he said not use to the foreign word, "but could you wait a moment the match is almost over."

-

"But senpai," a familiar voice answered back to him, eerily carrying a sarcastic tone, "I came to work not to watch a game that shows a depressing lack of skill."

-

Kaidoh almost choked on his rice ball as he looked up at his former teammate in disbelief.

-

"I…Inui senpai!" He blurted out unable to believe that he'll be working with him.

-

"This time around you'll be my senpai," Inui corrected, "I'm in your hands."

-

Now Kaidoh may not be a nice person but that still doesn't give any reason for God to pick on him like this.

-

This is going to be a difficult summer he just knew it.

* * *

A/N: Yay you made it to the end of the chapter! How good you are 3. Review and yadda yadda. I'm going to finish my T-zone story (I'm procrastinating on that last chapter for some unknown reason), finish a one shot, and then update this. My English classes are bogging down on my so we'll see how that goes.


	4. Step 4: Close Lid

**Ange:** Surprise? Me too. I couldn't decide what to update so I just decided to attempt my hand on this again. It's too short for my liking but it's the best I can do. I kinda have a plan for the plot again but it keeps changing the longer I look at it. For those who still read this and review, this is for you. For others it's yet another fic that will spontaneously be updated.

**Discclaimer:** It likes being on the bottom now

* * *

The Laundromat

Step Four: Close Lid

* * *

By the end of the work day Kaidoh was begging to escape.

-

Time must have slowed down just to spite him. Kaidoh went over to switch the open sign to closed wanting to prologue facing the disaster that the laundromat turned into in the course of a just a few short hours. Ushering a few late stragglers out, he locked the door steeling himself for the mess he had to face.

-

And then he turned around.

-

The floor was covered in a small layer of water, not enough to cause any water damage but no less annoying. On the back wall no more than five washing machines frothed soap suds. They weren't even top loaders so it's not like he can open it without causing further mess to the place. And in the midst of all this destruction stood his sempai, taking notes down in his new notebook he bought just for this occasion.

-

Kaidoh was speechless. All this was done by one person and in the span of one working day his outlook of him has changed completely.

-

The floored Kaidoh didn't know what to do.

-

Inui walked up to him his note taking obviously done. "Where do you keep the cleaning supplies sempai?"

-

Kaidoh gritted his teeth. He didn't know if Inui is calling him that out of fun or in all seriousness. All through the day it was a struggle to not snap at him about it.

-

"Sempai," he threw the word back at him to remind Inui who really deserved the title. "I still don't understand, how did all _this_ happen?" He swept his arm around the area to emphasize his point.

-

"Well we had run out of washing detergent," he began.

-

"You should have called me," Kaidoh interrupted, "there is more in the back supply room."

-

"Back supply room," Inui repeated as he quickly wrote that down. Replacing his small notebook in his back pocket, he resumed his story, "then I saw these small detergent cubes." Inui held up one to show. It could easily fit in the center of someone's palm.

-

"It was a heavy load though so I thought to use about ten or fifteen of them. But then this happened."

-

Kaidoh looked at his sempai in disbelief. He couldn't be serious?

-

"Inui-sempai," Kaidoh began trying to keep his voice even for both their sakes, "those soaps are highly concentrated so you only need one or two."

-

That explained what happened to one washer but what about the other four? "Did you do the same to the other washers?" Kaidoh tried to ignore them as they still gushed suds violently by the bucket load.

-

He didn't want to deal with any of this yet. Not even tennis made him feel this drained.

-

"I ran out of packets by then so the rest I filled with liquid soap from the bathroom."

-

"Bathroom soap?"

-

"Bathroom soap."

-

Kaidoh held in a sigh. He really didn't know what to think now. He walked towards the washing machine unplugging the rabid machines. At least he didn't mess up the dryers as well. Those he had no clue how to fix. Sloshing through the suds and the tepid water, he made his way to the storage closet grabbing two mops and a bucket. Looking behind him towards Inui who was making is way towards him, he held out a mop for him to grab.

-

"Should we begin, Sempai?"

* * *

A/N: I don't know where I was going with the chapter titles so they now have nothing to do with the actual chapter. Not that they ever did I suppose. I don't know how I feel aout this chapter but you can review to give your input. I guess it can be a filler of sorts. Review!

* * *

**Laundary Fact:** People in the southern part of the U.S. wash the most often while those on the East Coast wash the least.


	5. Step 5: Wait

**Ange:** Another update! This time it's not yet a random new story. I will finish that random new story though (hopefully). Anyways this is the next installment of t"The Laundromat". Forgive any ooc's that may have slipped in this chapter

**Disclaimer**:…

* * *

The Laundromat

Step 5: Wait

* * *

Kaidoh was soaked smelling strongly of detergent. The place was spotless now but he was a mess. A clean mess however that worked out, but still a mess. Absently wiping the few stray soap suds from his face he raised his tired eyes towards the clock. It was past dinner and he was still stuck here. Looking around he didn't spot Inui.

-

A sense of dread passed over him.

-

Had he dipped out while he was busy cleaning up his mess? That didn't seem like Inui though, although recently Kaidoh didn't quite know what to classify Inui as anymore. Kaidoh gave up looking for him, convinced that he had left him alone to fix up his mistakes.

-

He looked over at the still broken machines. He would go grab something to eat, that's what he'll do. He would sit down and fill his stomach before he lost his hold on his gradually escaping temper. Then when he feels that he could look at this place without seeing red he'll clean up the remaining evidence of his sempai's error.

-

But first dinner called.

-

Leaving the store Kaidoh didn't hear the faint sounds of someone tinkering away on one of the broken machines and her cetaintly didn't see that same sameone grabbing a set of tools that lay ready beside him.

* * *

Kaidoh returned to the Laundromat, his dinner of sushi putting him in better spirits. Usually he didn't splurge on something so pricey but he deserved it after all he had to go through today. Returning to the Laundromat he noticed that the lights were on, lights that he knew he turned off before leaving. Keeping his guard up he unlocked the door, quietly walking in.

-

"Hello," he called out in a gruff tone his eyes wary of any intruders. "I know you're in here so you better show yourselves."

-

Kaidoh walked between the aisles of machines looking for anything out of place. Who would want to break into a Laundromat is beyond him. While thinking about that he stumbled across something. Looking beneath him he realized that something was a someone and that someone was a sempai.

-

Inui sempai to be exact.

-

Kaidoh stepped back in surprise. There were machine parts littered around him and a toolbox was close by. Had he been here the whole time working on the broken washing machines? Inui was asleep now, passed out cold on the floor still clutching a screwdriver in his hand. Kaidoh bent down to remove it and his glasses, now feeling the guilt for even thinking that Inui abandoned him.

-

Turning away from his sempai he picked up where Inui left off, determined to make up for the slight he gave to his now fellow employee.

* * *

Inui woke up to a sore back and an empty stomache, it was the hunger that had brought him out of his sleep. The last thing he remembered was trying to fix the washing machines seeing that he couldn't find Kaidoh anywhere. Inui stretched without moving, a skill he picked up over time. Opening his eyes a blurry ceiling greeted him. He turned his head but his blurry vision prevented him from being able to find his glasses which weren't on his face like he expected.

-

"They're on top of the microwave in the back, along with your dinner," Kaidoh's voice absently greeted him as it echoed from the confines of one of the washing machines, "make sure you eat it before it gets cold."

-

Knowing Kaidoh couldn't see him he thanked him with a froggy murmur, his throat still recovering from his long nap. Just how long had he been out? He stumbled his way towards the microwave using the machines around him for balance. After putting his thick lenses back on he went to the bathroom to freshen up and awake his still foggy brain.

-

His stomach grumbled again reminding him of Kaidoh's promise of dinner. Sure enough once he opened the microwave there was a bowl of fresh noodles with steam still wafting from the top. Inui inhaled the aroma recognizing the noodles being the ones they served at the high class soba shop at the edge of town. It was at least 2 miles just to get there and the place is pretty expensive for a noodle restaurant too. Had Kaidoh went through all that trouble just for him?

-

Inui returned to Kaidoh, for once at a lost at what to say or even think. He found him still working on the same machine this time having gravitated towards the rear of it.

-

"Thank you," Inui said to Kaidoh somewhat contrite that he had him cleaning up his mess, "And sorry for all the trouble I caused today."

-

Kaidoh only grunted in response his attention focused entirely on the work at hand.

-

That didn't bother Inui in the least though, already use to his behavior. The famished boy jumped up to sit on top of one of the machines intent on his dinner. And so Inui slurped up his noodles eyeing Kaidoh as he worked and Kaidoh repaired yet another machine both not minding the other's company.

-

And in the back of Inui's mind he had to admit he didn't really mind working here with Kaidoh.

-

And the same thing could be said for Kaidoh…

-

Now if only Inui would just stop calling him sempai.

* * *

**A/N:** Ahhh, um so I don't know how I feel about this one. It took on a life of its own and I'm not sure whether I like the end product or not. Hopefully everyone who reads it does though. The title chapters are so lame I might start fresh with them too. They went from corny to pathetic. Anyways, don't forget to review and hopefully I'll be updating my other stories soon now that I'm on break.

* * *

**Quick Laundry Fact:** A single load of laundry, from wash to dry, takes an average of one hour and twenty seven minutes to complete.


End file.
